The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefore.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of vehicle control. More particularly, it pertains to a control system for a rocket or jet-propelled vehicle traveling through the layer of air surrounding the earth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of control systems for vehicles traveling through the air or atmosphere, such as air-to-air rockets, the prior art has used control surfaces that move from the surface or from interior the vehicle into the air stream or xe2x80x9cfreestreamxe2x80x9d to divert some of the dynamic air flow and develop a turning moment, about the center of gravity of the vehicle, that will turn the vehicle from its present course to a new heading. In addition, there are other control systems utilizing hardware to change the direction of flow of the propulsion means, such as a rocket nozzle, a propeller direction, or a jet exhaust, by rotating the nozzle or the entire motor. Still further, there are other control systems that utilize lateral gaseous jets to induce transverse forces to change the course of the vehicle. In virtually all of these prior art uses, there is a large requirement for machinery, such as levers, bearings, shafts, wheels, arms, valves and the like that are bulky, heavy, and take up space in the vehicle that could be put to better use.
For instance, in the prior art of this latter mentioned control system, U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,167 issued to Froning, Jr. et al. on Jan. 25, 1972 discloses the combination of an elongated jet nozzle, located between control vanes of a rocket, to produce additional or channeled flow of air over the control vanes to provide secondary or augmented aerodynamic control during the time of required high xe2x80x9cGxe2x80x9d maneuvering which occurs most likely during the initial launch period or near the end of the flight of an air-to-air missile.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,678 issued to Geres on Dec. 17, 1974 discloses a guidance control involving the use of a compressed gas passed through slots along the trailing edge of a wing attached to a gravity vehicle wherein the gas is diverted upward or downward, from the plane of the wing, to control the pitch and roll of the missile, to increase the lift-to-drag ratio of the wing, and give a measure of additional accuracy to the bomb.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,693 issued to Raynaud et al. on Jul. 30, 1985 discloses the placement of a plurality of gaseous attitude control jets about the surface of a missile where the jet exhaust is controlled by a nozzle to create an oblong shaped jet lying in a plane including the longitudinal axis of the missile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,571 issued to Heinz on Mar. 10, 1987 discloses the use of transverse jet flow along the rear edge of an airplane wing to promote greater airflow over the wing in the direction of the main axis of the airplane to augment the lifting and control capability of short takeoff and landing aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,565 issued to King, Sr. on Aug. 29, 2000 discloses the use of jet flow passed across the top of, and rearward, over a lifting surface or wing and, simultaneously, across the bottom and forward, of the same wing to decrease the pressure on top of the wing and increase the pressure on the bottom of the wing to increase the overall lift capability of the wing at comparable slower forward speeds of the vehicle to which the wing is attached.
Accordingly, the main object of this invention is the use of a plurality of small jet nozzles arranged in a specific pattern to provide augmentation to a reactive jet action taken on a flying vehicle that requires less in terms of overall mass fluid flow than prior art devices. Other objects of the invention is an augmentation system that does not require large fluid flows, a system that is devoid of the low pressure areas developed by reaction jets that are used along the sides of flying vehicles, and a means of reducing the overall weight and requirement for steering equipment in a flying vehicle.
These and other objects of the invention will be shown by a close reading of the following Description of the Preferred Embodiment taken together with the drawings appended hereto. The scope of protection sought by the inventor may be gleaned from a close reading of the claims that conclude this patent specification.